GST MacEasel Menu for the Mac Tutorial

Installing the program

The first thing you will do is to download the evaluation zip file from our download page or if you have purchased the product you will be given a link to download the full version. 

After expanding this zip file you should have a MacEasel folder that looks similar to the one above. 

GST MacEasel menu designer highlights

If you will look below you will see that the GST MacEasel menu designer is a one panel program that allows you design a complete menu to organize and present your information. The highlighted areas below show the key features of the GST MacEasel.

Step by Step Tutorial to build a  menu

Here are the steps to build a menu.

First you will need to plan your menu. You will need to decide how many categories you have and divide them up between the menu pages. In the Nissan 350Z example shown below we have five categories. The first four will go each on a separate menu page and the fifth will open up a finder folder.

Next you will need to decide on the the organization of the data on the CD. In this example we have information in PDF files and HTML files and two videos so we will have folders on the CD named docs and html. We also have a folder of photos. If you are doing an installation CD you may have an install or bin or sit folder. The naming is totally up to you. We recommend that you put all your files in folders so the main CD will not be cluttered and confuse the user.

You need to gather everything together in what we like to call the staging folder. This is essentially the image that is going to go on the CD. This folder should be located under Users/your user name.

Here is what the staging folder looks like for this menu.

Now that you have all the important files arranged in your staging folder, it is time to double-click on the GST MacEasel and start designing.

1. Open GST MacEasel

2. Select menu 1

3. Enter the information for the two title lines

4. Choose a color and font size for the title lines

5. Now enter each selection line that you want to show on the menu. (Note: There are 10 selection lines spaced evenly and then there are two selection lines near the bottom of the menu. These are normally used for navigation like "Exit" and "Previous"  or something similar.) For each selection line there are three components:

   a. The selection description (This is what the user of the menu will see).

   b. The object you want to launch, this could be a file or a program. This is also where you direct the selection to jump to another menu. As you can see below, to jump to another menu you just put an underscore, the word menu, and the menu number ( like _menu3 ). This naming convention is reserved for menu changing, so don't try to use a name like this for a file or program.

   c. Check "Quit after Launch" if you want the menu to close after launching another program.

   Click here for some examples of launching files and programs 

   

6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 for each menu page (Look below for an example of menu 2) (Note: the font size and color are only set once for all pages)

7. Select a background image. (this same image is used for all pages) You can select one of the stock backgrounds provided or use your own. JPG and GIF backgrounds are supported.

8. Select a sound to play when the user makes a selection. (one sound is used for all selections) Select the blank entry if you don't want a sound.

9. Type in the name of your staging folder. This folder should be located under Users/your user name. Note - If you built a menu using the evaluation version and you use the same staging folder that you used during evaluation, it may be necessary to manually delete the CD Menu program in the staging folder. The registered version will try to overwrite it with the registered version but sometimes this is unsuccessful due to authority problems. The symptom would be that it continues to present the "evaluation only" message.

10. Click the Build button. This will build all the necessary files for the GST MacEasel and put them in the staging folder that you designated. 

11. After you do a successful build, now you can click the Test Menu button and see what your menu looks like.

12. Test your menu by clicking on each selection and make sure it switches between menu pages ok and launches everything properly. If any thing doesn't look right or doesn't work properly, close the menu and go back to the designer panel and make your change then click Build then Test Menu. 

13. Once you have tested the menu and get it working properly, it would be a good idea to do a File/SaveAs to a Development folder on your hard drive. This folder should be located under Users/your user name. You should also save a copy of your background image there. The program doesn't save the image on a File/SaveAs. This should be a different folder than the staging folder. The staging folder should be reserved for the image that will go on the CD. Actually you should do a File/SaveAs as soon as you start a new menu, then as you are developing you can just click Save from time to time and have your work saved.

14. Now that you have totally tested and saved your menu it is time to go on to the CD burning steps.

Preparing the PC Portion of the CD

The background for the PC version needs to be in BMP format. There is a generic one provided for you that will work without any further preparation.

If you want a custom background you need to provide a BMP format image created on a PC. You may already have this. If not you can convert the image located in the staging folder under Program Data on a PC. This is the image that was created when you chose "Select Background Image" from the MacEasel It is named easel.jpg. Copy this to a PC and open it with Paint and save it as autorun.bmp. A USB Drive makes this an easy operation.

 Copy autorun.bmp to the ISO9660 folder under your staging folder on the Mac. There is a default autorun.bmp already there so it will ask you if you want to replace it. Click replace.

This process may seem clumsy but the BMP image created by Preview on the Mac doesn't work right on the PC version of the Autoplay Easel.

Making the CD

You will need Roxio Toast 8 to make the CD. It is able to make a CD that works on the Mac and the PC.

1. Start up Toast 8

2. Select Mac and PC

3. Select Auto-open disc window

4. Position your staging folder and the Toast 8 window side-by-side to allow easy copying.

5. Copy CD Menu to the Toast 8 disc

6. Open the ISO9660 folder and copy all the files in it to the Toast 8 disc. Make sure you copy the files from the ISO9660 folder and not the folder itself.

7. Copy the docs, html, photos and ProgramData folders to the Toast 8 disc. These are the names in our example, the docs, html and photos folders may be a different name for you. The ProgramData will always be same. 

8. Set the Mac and PC checkboxes as shown below so the proper files show up on the Mac and PC

9. Click the red button to burn the CD.

Make sure you test the CD on both the Mac and the PC

When you insert the CD on the Mac, a folder will automatically open (Like Shown Below) and the user will have to double-click the "CD Menu Icon. OS X won't allow an program to start automatically for security reasons.

PC Version of the Autoplay Easel

When you insert the CD on the PC, the Autoplay Easel will open automatically, note the following differences.

(Please note that the Menu on Windows will look very similar but not exactly the same as the one on the Mac. Here are the differences: (1) The font size is fixed to a preset setting (2) All the font color will be the same as the selection text color on Mac (3) There will be one fixed selection sound that you can't change (4) The text itself is used to select an item instead of a button)

Here is what our menu looks like on the Windows PC

Send mail to support@autorun-autoplay-tools.com with questions about autorun or any products on this web site - - but first check the (FAQ)Frequently Asked Questions page. Your question might be answered there.

GSTMenu Development kit, GSTAction Development Kit, GST Autoplay Easel, GST AutoFlash, GST AutoFlash Builder, GST AcroPDF Launch, GST Power Launch, GST DigiCardCD Builder,  GST Autoplay Pilot, GST MacEasel Menu, GST Mac Autoplay Pilot, GST Mac Power Launch and GST Mac AcroPDF Launch  Copyright © 2002 GS Technology Works LLC dba GS Technologies
Last modified: August 27, 2008